Life: Wristwatches in Kickstarter 2021

 Somehow 2021 was a year of wristwatches for me. I found watches interesting to me in Kickstarter, and backed 8 projects.

Kickstarter is not a retailer that sells things already made and ready to sell. It is a crowdfunding site for creators who have a project idea and means to create it, but need backers' money to realize the creation. By backing the project, backers pledge stated money, Kickstarter collects the money and transfers it to the creator, and the creator creates the project's promised outcome in stated timeline. 

In case of wristwatch, a watchmaker present prototype wristwatch in the campaign, and ask for money to produce them in a larger scale. If you like the watch and accept some risk (scam, long waiting, delay, unproven quality control and customer service, etc), you pledge your money. Backers can get the product at a discounted price compared with future suggested retail price. You won't see a well-established brand, but may see something you like from a microbrand.

Here is the results so far.

Project       delivered?     on time?                   progress

#1               yes               yes on time

#2               yes              3 months delay

#3               yes              1 month early (!!)

#4               no                2 months delay     ongoing, shipment began

#5               yes              yes on time

#6               no                Dec delivery delay announced     ongoing

#7               no                no  Oct delivery delayed, project encountering money transfer issue

#8               no                yes/ongoing           Promised delivery April 2022

So far I got 4 among 8. One (#8) seems to be ongoing on time. For 3 delayed projects (#4,6,7), I am not worrying about any of these. One (#4) is delayed, but I anticipate delivery in a few weeks. Delays are due to covid closures and resulting logistics and supply chain issues. It is 2021 and understandable.

For the project #7 that encountered bank money transfer issue (they seem to have triggered bank's fraud investigation), I am just reading their occasional updates. The creators had previous successful and completed projects. They kept sending honest updates and do not seem to be scammers. (if they were, the best way for scammers would be to just disappear.)

The project campaign was a successful one, gathering 922 backers and over 360k USD fund. But the success seems to be acting as double-edged sword now. With the sign of trouble and delay, about 10-20 backers among 922 got worked up and are vocal about calling the project a scam, although rocking the boat does not help anyone. It is just adding stress to creators. I feel sorry for the creators.

When a company go bankrupt, stakeholder's loss can be big. In such a case, people do get worked up. But this watch is like $400 for a backer. As this is unlikely to be a scam, I have no need to go crazy or lose sleep over it. I'd just trust and give more time for the creators and Kickstarter to sort things out. I still want the geeky-cool watch and am hoping they complete the project.

This watch fever was like once in a decade event. I doubt I'd spend more on watches for a while. I already have many enough watches for all occasions (art, sport/tool, casual/pop, business, solemn/formal, and party jewelry). I'll find something else for 2022.

[Kickstarter watches 2021]

Dance: Feeling-good dance vs Looking-good dance. It takes techniques to "show" your dance across the distance

 There are partner-dance styles that emphasize connection, sensuality, intimacy, subtlety, etc. They are "hug-and-move" styles, including Argentine Tango (close-embrace social styles), Kizomba, and "sensual" bachata.

Yes, they feel good. Dancing with physically close partner can be very sensual experience. They can make most out of crowded dance floor. They command whole set of unique techniques to dance small and nice.

But, as a "show" dance, they fall behind of many other dances. Why?

Because, spectators cannot "see" it from a distance, from 20 feet, 50 feet, or in a large stage, the distance can be 150 feet away. The dancers are tiny figures of size of inches.

It takes different techniques to "show" your dance across the distance.

Let's take salsa dancers, showing solo drill. They try to show "cool" moves, as well as the quality of the motions and nice shapes of their bodies.

In the case, their motion range is limited within what a single body can do. Solo salsa is a "wiggly" dance, and the visually appealing distance is limited within a range that we can see the motion and shape. Many solo salsa dancers use agility and speed to add appeal, but within a limit of what the dancer can do.

Ballet people have hundreds of years of history of "showing" the motion and body across the distance. One solution they reached is the notion of "line". As a habit of human brains, lines are highly recognizable to us. There are "lines" human body can make. Ballet dancers extend body lines to clearly show them. Excess fat and meat obscure the lines, and that is why ballet dancers are skinny. They also use their bodies to "draw" illusionary lines in the air. 

Signaling/gesturing moves (wave, salute, shoulder shrug, etc) are actually highly visible and understood, too.

In a partner dance, two people are dancing together. Two people greatly expand options to appeal visually.

For example,

  Two bodies physically occupy more space. The bigger, the easier to see.

  They can draw lines in the air, using partner's body as an extension of your body, and the lines can be much longer than ones solo dancer can draw. 

  Partner dance allows gravity-defying illusions with weight supporting moves like lifts and drops. 

  Partner dance adds viewing angles and complexity.

  Appealing postures can be shown with partner's support. Think Arabesque. It is pain to do it by oneself, but balance-supporting partner can make it a lot easier to do it. 

  With compression-propelling motions (as in swing dance), partner can move faster than he/she can by oneself.

  Likewise, many moves that are impossible or very difficult by oneself can be done with partner.

[Arabesque posture in ballet (pic from wikipedia)]

Appeal of partner dancers increases when they both are conscious about how they look as a couple. Also, uneven couples can be spotted in not a good way. Ballroom people use "frame and picture" analogy. It is applicable to pretty much all partner dances. My old instructor used to say that he would take any partner and win competitions. I thought it was bull, and think it is bull even today. There is no immediate cure for uneven dancers. ...I digress.

Working with many dancers/multiple couples is dealing with group and formation. Making group dance looking good is choreographer's job. It is beyond a single or couple dancers' work, and definitely third person is needed to design the group dance effectively.

These points are not relevant if you are a social dancer with no regard to how you and your dance look. But for many other dancers who care about how their dance look and how they convey positive impression to spectators ( in other words, if you are taking a step toward an entertainer-dancer), yes these points are something to think about and to take seriously.  

Just leaving a note on something that came up in a party this past weekend.